DISCLAIMER: DON'T OWN FF8, BUT WOULD LIKE TO

Chapter II

Rinoa briskly walked down the dormitory hall thinking about what today would be like. She would go to the library and start her shift. She had to get those new manuals to all the SeeD members today, but she didn't really feel like doing that by herself. She figured she would just leave it to one of the students. Rinoa was too excited about the party tonight. It had been one year since Ultimicia was destroyed. They were going to have a banquet to celebrate where everyone in garden was welcome. The retired headmaster, Cid, would be there with his wife, Edea. It had also been around the same time Rinoa had become a sorceress. The thought still gave her chills. But tonight she would wear the same dress she had met Squall in at the SeeD graduate party. That brought back memories. However, the party would be a lot of fun because everyone was going to be there, including all her comrades that she hadn't seen in a while, well, most of them. Quistis and Zell were still present at the garden as instructors, but Selphie had left a little while after the incident to rebuild Trabia garden and last Rinoa heard, she had become the new headmaster for it. Irvine on the other hand, probably wasn't coming. That was a long story that still made Rinoa feel bad in the pit of her stomach. Just words came back to her that she tried to hold back.

"It's time for change!"

"Irvine, I'm the headmaster here! I'll say what we do and where we go and no halfwit cowboy is going to tell me otherwise!"

"I don't need this! I'm sick of your attitude and sick of this place! I'm outta here and I don't plan on coming back!"

"Go ahead and run you little pussy. I'm sick of your incompetence and want you out by tomorrow!"

"I'll do you a favor and leave tonight, you dictator."

"Then go!"

"And words up to you when you're done screwing that sorceress of yours, why don't you retire before you get yourself killed by mutiny?"

"GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!"

"GLADLY!"

Those words still made her shudder. Irvine and Squall were both best of friends, but because Squall had lowered Irvine's rank because of a mission that had gone wrong, the two had nothing better to do but yell at each other. However, Irvine had one day just came and said those things to Squall and that's what happened. Rinoa hadn't seen Irvine in five months and hadn't gotten a word from him. Though he had said some hurtful things to her as well. She had ignored them because she knew he was really only mad at Squall. But very unlikely he would come back, or even if Squall would let him in if he did.

When Rinoa had entered the library she had spotted the boxes of the manuals. She looked around and saw about four of five students frantically studying for one of Quistis' tests most likely. She headed over to the counter and saw Cheryl half asleep.

Rinoa tapped her on the shoulder, "Hey, tired?

"Oh, Ms. Heartily! I'm sorry, it's just that I got zero sleep last night because of the emergency." She stood up fully and yawned slightly.

"You were a part of the emergency last night?"

"Yeah, I'm a medic level five, so I was called in because level five students are always called in if there's any type of emergency. It sucks." She leaned over the table and looked at Rinoa.

"I see, don't worry about it. At least you were on time today." Rinoa smiled at her.

"Yeah, if only the headmaster was a little less strict, we'd probably all be a little happier. Oh! Sorry about that! I didn't mean to." Cheryl looked scared a little bit.

"Don't worry. I understand. At least you say it in a nice way." Rinoa didn't care. She had always heard nasty comments about Squall behind her back. She often heard groups of students whispering as she walked by them with Squall around her arm. A lot of people had liked him in the beginning, but now, he was stern and a powerful leader. Sometimes, students and even SeeD members didn't agree with him at times. But he had never done anything that drove the garden under. It was a strong establishment because of Squall. And even with their suspended funding, he kept it going.

"It slipped out." Cheryl said.

"Don't worry about it." Rinoa replied.

"Well, anyways, I'm still sorry, just frustrated." She apologized again.

"Hey, it's no problem. By the way, can I ask a favor of you." Rinoa looked at her.

"Sure."

"I'll give you 500 gil if you take those manuals and distribute them to all the SeeD members. Just leave them each one if you can find them, but if not, just put them in their mailboxes in the office, okay?" Rinoa knew she would accept, any chance she would take to get out of the library and go see Zell. But, she knew she needed to use money because Cheryl was still smart.

"Okay. Don't worry about it!" Cheryl exited the counter and went to get the boxes.

"Oh, before I forget! Can you give this message to Zell for me, thanks." Rinoa handed Cheryl and piece of paper she had written last night before Squall had come in.

"What for?" Cheryl asked a lot of questions.

"Just a note, I don't care if you read it either, it's just a reminder about checking the schedules to see who will be on duty during the party. Last time he forgot and we had no one guarding the front gate." Rinoa knew that if she told her that, she wouldn't read it, but just to make sure, she wrote a few sentences about it at the beginning and towards the end. It didn't matter that much if Cheryl read it anyways. Zell would probably tell her about it.

"Okay, I'll make sure I get it to him." She took the note and placed it in her dress pocket and picked up the box of manuals.

"Thanks, and I'll pay you when you get back, okay?" Rinoa went behind the counter.

"Okay, bye." Cheryl walked out of the library.

Rinoa shook her head. How long had Zell been messing around with her? Probably since he became an instructor. It's against garden policy for an instructor to date a student, let alone have sex with them. She had always thought it was funny how he was always trying to hide it from Squall, but she knew Squall knew. Squall liked Zell though, and he just pretended he didn't know. However, if another SeeD member found out. Zell would definitely get the axe. Squall would have no choice, but to suspend Zell's instructor's liscense and probably expel Cheryl as well. So many secrets that this garden holds, but no one ever talks about them.